Brothers
by outerelf
Summary: Even though Red Alert and the twins don't realize it, they're about to find out a secret about themselves...
1. Chapter 1

_hush abye, _

_sparkling bye,_

_we're a family. _

_I'll try to take my time with you_

_And slowly let you see,_

_That I'm a child_

_With feelings too._

_When I cry, late at night,_

_It means that I love you._

Red Alert onlined with a violent click as he stared ahead into darkness. How long since he had heard that song? How long since he had _sung_ that song? He had only sung it once, just before he had been taken to a sparkling home and abandoned.

Slowly he dragged himself out of his recharge bunk, optics online, and the memory of the song still lingering. _I wonder why I would dream of this now?_ He wondered, placing a hand on the door.

Red Alert didn't go through the door, fearing that if he did the noise would chase the memory of the song away. With a soft, inward groan, Red Alert spun away, reaching for a datapad, not caring if it was already full.

Quietly he scribbled what lyrics he could onto it, and then began struggling to remember the tune. He remembered the song, bit by bit, until it lay in front of him (if he could see it) complete and ready to be sung.

Red Alert contemplated singing it out loud, but instead tucked the data-pad away. Sleep was always in short supply for Red Alert, and babysitting the twins cut it down even further. He was lucky if he got through a single cycle without hearing a boom, explosion, or screams of some sort.

Red Alert climbed back onto his booth, and fell once more into recharge, his dreams haunted by the soft song.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sideswipe nudged Sunstreaker as he said, "Aww, c'mon, this will have to be interesting! If we don't allow Red Alert any sleep, he'll glitch. We need to target others."

Sunstreaker nodded, sighing. His idiotic brother wasn't going to let him rest unless they pranked somebody today. "Fine, but I want to do something artistic."

"Hmm, I think I can do that."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert was awakened by a rude pounding on his door. Blearily he opened it, to be met with the furious base commanders face and the twins. "Sir. What's-"

"Take these two, and keep them _out_ of trouble for the next few vorns until I peel all of this off!"

The commander turned to stalk away without waiting for Red Alerts reply. And Red Alert had to fight to keep his own face straight.

The back was completely covered in odd objects, glued and painted onto the back to make an almost pretty collage. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, what did you two do?"

"Super fast drying glue certainly has its merits."

Red Alert shook his head, and sighed, his stomach gurgling mournfully. "Well, I suppose while I come up with something to punish you with you can come on inside my room to make sure that you don't get into too much trouble."

Curious and surprised at the offer, the twins entered into Red Alerts room. Red Alerts room was one of the biggest mysteries on base, for nobody had seen the inside as of yet. Not even the commander. Red Alert waved to his bunk. "You'll have to sit over there."

The twins looked around. It was almost completely bare except for a single multi-colored ball, a couple of robotic bat wings, and a torn off tail from a rat. Red Alert noticed them looking, and shrugged. "I never had many friends, still don't as a matter of fact, and I never liked collecting things. The ball is the last gift my creators gave me before they abandoned me, and the other stuff is what I gave myself on my creation days."

"Wow Red Alert. It's not like you to suddenly go telling us about your past, let alone invite us in here."

Red Alert shrugged, a weary sigh escaping him. "I'm too tired to deal with this. Moreover, I just went to a doctor who said that he did something to suppress my glitch, but-"

Red Alert rubbed his helm, wincing. "I now got a headache worthy of Primus. Now, look you two. Be quiet, and I won't have to throw you in the brig, because I don't think I could walk that far."

"Aww, surely you can!"

Red Alert shook his head. "Forget it." He drank down an entire cube in one gulp, and motioned briskly to them.

Sighing, the twins slipped off the bunk, and they left the room.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert had _not_ been lying when he said that his CPU was giving him trouble. The twins could see that as Red Alert staggered down the hallway, trying to keep on a brave front, but failing miserably. "Umm, Red Alert, we can take you back to your room and go to the brig ourselves." Sideswipe volunteered, feeling slightly uneasy.

For too long he had seen Red Alert as unconquerable and unfeeling. To see him now, staggering in pain with every step, tugged at some small, almost forgotten part of the twins spark. Red Alert peered at them, and shook his head. "The crazy thing is, I almost believe you two would."

"You can check the cameras if you wish. Afterwards."

"Alright, and how long do you two plan on staying down their?"

"Usually you give us a recharge cycle, so why not? It's not like we have anything better to do, and if an attack came-" the twins smiled ferally.

Red Alert leaned against the wall, watching the two with shaded optics. "I believe that you actually would go down to the brig by yourselves."

Red Alert shook his head, and began walking back to his room. "Half a cycle. Because you for once don't have to clean up your mess. Or make me clean it up."

The twins exchanged stunned glances. Red Alert must _really_ be hurting more then they expected if he would actually agree, _and_ cut their sentencing down to half. But, they weren't about to complain.

Both made a beeline for the brig to get it over with, as Red Alert painfully made his way to his room.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert moaned softly to himself as he staggered down the hallway. A passing medic stopped, took one look, and said, "Medbay."

"No."

"Do I have to drag you down there?"

Red Alerts tired, aching CPU recognized a threat when he heard one, and he tensed, falling into a fighting or fleeing position. The medic couldn't decide which. "Primus." The medic muttered, looking Red Alert over. "Ya look like you've been dragged through a slag heap and you still don't want to go to the medbay?"

Red Alert took a step back, and gasped in pain as his CPU seemed to explode in response. The medic chewed his lip worriedly, realized what he was doing, and hissed in frustration.

The twins came strolling up. "Red Alert, feeling better?"

Red Alert collapsed right onto Sunstreakers feet.

"RATCHET! What's wrong with him?"

Ratchets optic ridge rose as he looked at the giant twin. The closest he had ever heard the twins to becoming worried about another's health was when the other was hurt. _This_ was unusual. "I'm not sure. Get him into the medbay. I didn't want to have to use another's medbay while visiting, but it looks like I'll have to. Do you two know anything that might of set it off?'

Sideswipe gathered Red Alert as tenderly as a sparkling, and Red Alert moaned in agony, optics onlineing as he slowly struggled to online. "Twins?"

"Don't worry Red, we'll have you fixed up in no time."

"Pha! Stupid doctors. Dead…"

"Doctors? Dead?" Ratchet was puzzled, and so was Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. "Don't know Hatchet."

CLANG! "I told you two to not call me that. Now, give me the lowdown on what's happening lately."

The twins explained the various antics they had been up to, and when they were nearing the point when they made a collage out of the commanders back, Sunstreaker suddenly said, "That's right! Red Alert said something about a program that was supposed to suppress his glitch, but he got a CPU-ache."

Ratchet stopped. "he has a glitch?"

"Yeah, paranoia. Believes everyone is out to get him."

"no wonder the program didn't work and he collapsed. Alright you two, set him down into one of the bunks and I'll purge the program from his databanks."

"Will their be any side effects?"

Ratchets surprise was growing in leaps and bounds. Never before had he heard the twins sound like they actually _cared_ about someone other then themselves. "Why do you two ask?"

"He's the only one who's been able to dodge half our tricks Ratchet! Even you fall for all of them, but he can avoid them! And he knows whether or not we did them as well. Even if someone copies our style, he knows that it wasn't us who did it! Ratchet, I so totally want to break this mech."

_What-what kind of concern is that?_ Ratchet thought, staring at the two, and slowly he shook his head. "Out of all reasons to become concerned about a mech."

The twins smirked, looking at each other. "We know, oh boy do we know.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Alright, the programs being purged as we speak, but I have to go now, my shuttles leaving in two breems."

"Thanks Ratchet. We'll be sure to tell Red Alert what happened."

"I called the other doctor, but I don't know if he'll come. It sounds as if he doesn't think much of Red Alert-"

"Ah, he's been mad since Red Alert came into his medbay. He doesn't like sullying his hands with a glitchy mech. If Red Alert glitches in the middle of the purging we'll drag him back kicking and screaming."

Ratchet nodded, and hesitated. "Red Alert, is that his name?" The twins nodded, and Ratchet continued. "Red Alert will probably babble some very unusual things, so if you really are going to watch, I suggest you don't pay attention to what he says. Most of it will be disjointed fragments of past memories."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_They were in front of him, so small and helpless, both of them curled in the peace of sleep. Ten, the yellow one twitched, and he frowned. They both began tossing, and he tossed a look over his shoulder._

_His creators were trying to sleep. Quietly he slipped over the side of the crib that separated them, and hesitantly touched the yellow one. Both of them instantly stilled, but only for a moment. Then, once again, they started whimpering, threatening to wake up and start bawling for their creators._

_He thought desperately for something to do, when he remembered a song, and he opened his mouth and softly began to sing._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hush abye, sparkling bye/ We're a family."

The twins jumped violently as Red Alert softly sang, his voice clear and strong despite the fact that when he had been muttering before his vocalizer had made it soft and muted. Now, he was singing.

'I didn't know he could sing."

"Shhh! Listen to what he's singing."

The twins listened, feeling as if the energon was draining out of their bodies. "Sides, he's singing moms lullaby."

Red Alert fell silent at the end of the song, and hissed softly in pain as he attempted to wake up. "Whoa their Red Alert!" Sunstreaker quickly said, CPU struggling to deal with the knowledge. "Go back to recharge."

Red Alert balanced on the edge of awakening for a moment, and fell back into recharge. "Sides, there is no way he can be related, right?"

"I don't know Sunny, mum and dad…"

"Their dead now. So we can't ask them. But, Red Alert said he was abandoned-"

The two exchanged confused looks, and reached out to each other through the bond that they shared. Then, they turned their attention to Red Alert. "Do you think we could reach him?"

"I don't know Sunny, we never knew him until now." Sideswipe said, voice muted.

Sunstreaker shrugged, and by some unknown agreement, both reached out, trying to catch a hold of the tiny part of the spark that would represent Red Alert. For a brief moment, they thought they had failed, but something latched on, and the twins grinned as Red Alerts confusion flowed back through to them.

"Well, looks like he _is_ our brother."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"hey, Sunny, I'm bored. I thought being on the Ark would mean that we wouldn't be bored anymore."

"Then lets go bug Red!"

Both stood up to find and torture their younger brother. "Remember his face when we told him that we were related?"

"Oh yes, I thought he was going to blow a gasket."

"I agree with him saying that no one else should know. Though our reasons are probably completely different."

The twins snickered gleefully, following the bond they had with Red alert to the cafeteria. The door slid open to Red Alert and a fire truck sitting together. Alone.

Instantly all 'protective brother' instincts flared up, and they stared a little hostile at the fire truck. Red Alert didn't even bother to turn around. "Inferno, meet the twins. Biggest pains in my aft since I met them."

_Inferno._ The name was filed away, and the twins grinned as they picked up their own cubes of energon. "Hey, Red Alert?" Sunstreaker asked, optics focusing on Inferno. "Isn't it your turn for security duty?"

"No. Unfortunately." Red Alert snorted as he stared morosely at the energon. "Prime and Prowl ejected me from the room, and I now currently have nothing to do."

"What happened to all of the lit pads you usually take?"

"They were destroyed when one of the supply ships coming up." Red Alert sighed, glaring at his energon as if it was the reason why he seemed cursed with some rather bad luck. "What are you two doing anyways?"

"Well, we were getting bored, and it is nearly that day-"

Red Alert froze, and Infernos expression grew confused. "Twins, if you _dare_ repeat that again, I'll string you up and toss you into a black hole!" Red Alert snarled, glaring at them. "Once was horrible enough."

"How were we supposed to know that your auditory receptors were that sensitive-" Sideswipe began, when Sunstreaker elbowed him. The twins fell studiously silent as Inferno spoke up for the first time. "What are you talking about?" He had a thick, heavy accent that seemed thicker from the confusion inside of it. "Red Alert?"

"Hmph. Nothing."

The twins looked at each other. Was it their imagination or was Red Alert blushing? Inferno grumbled something softly, but he sipped at his own energon as he peered at the twins keenly.

In three seconds, battle lines were drawn. The twins on one side, Inferno on the other. "By the way, I never got your names."

Red Alert was about to say something, when Sunstreaker cut him off. "I'm Sunstreaker. And that idiot over there is Sideswipe."

Sideswipe glared. Third line drawn between the twins. "Look here you over cocky arrogant-"

Red Alert made a slight noise, drawing the attention back to him. "If you don't mind me pointing out something I am still a security director, and rude comments will be repaid with a visit to the brig."

The twins didn't fall back a step a Red Alert shot an angry look at them that clearly said, 'I can take care of myself!' "Hey Red Alert?"

"Yes Inferno?" Red Alerts sharp gaze softened marginally as he looked at Inferno, and the twins protective brother programming cranked up another notch.

Red Alert had some of the worst luck, and if his luck held like it usually did, Inferno would turn out to be a decepticon or something equally as horrible. "Just wondering what time you need to go back to the control booth."

"Whenever they finally let me back in, and then I'm writing a security override." Red Alert grumbled. The twins took seats at the same table, so that way all four chairs were taken.

"How about until then-" Sideswipe began.

"-we play some games? I know a couple that require four players." Sunstreaker finished, drawing out a pack of mech sized cards.

Red Alert looked on the brink of refusing, but Sideswipe sent a pleading pulse through their bond. With a sigh, Red Alert gave in, and took the cards.

0o0o0o0o0o00

The card game was very informative. Through it they learned that Inferno had met Red Alert in a previous base, just before coming to the Ark, and they had spent the trip together. And yes, Inferno _did_ know about Red Alerts glitch, and Inferno was either one of those amazing few who didn't care, or he simply hid his thoughts well.

Inferno, apparently, was a search and rescue mech as well as a fire truck. Two jobs in one mech. Red Alert had kept silent, noticing how the twins were questioning Inferno, but saying nothing. Finally the twins asked the question. "So, do you have a mate?"

"…No." Inferno said, and weighted them carefully. "Do you?"

"nope."

They turned to look at Red Alert, who sighed and laid down his cards. "I win. Royal straight flush."

The twins cursed as Inferno gaped. "No, I don't have a mate either. Twins, you should know that."

They gave him nothing but angelic looks back. It wasn't _their_ fault that the last three mechs who had expressed even a slight interest to Red Alert beyond normal friendship bounds _without_ their express approval, went off screaming into the night, now was it?

Red Alert stood up, sighing. "I'm off to the racks."

The twins and Inferno watched him go, and Inferno groaned as the image of Red Alert freshly washed went rolling through his CPU- "Hey, what do you think of Red Alert?"

"It's a little early for me to be forming an opinion on him already. After all, first impressions are usually wrong." Inferno replied, guardedly. He had dealt with jealous and protective mechs before, and the twins reminded him immensely of one femme…

"Alright, we'll ask you later."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Vorns came and went quickly. Inferno and Red Alert quickly became friends. _Waaaay_ too fast for the twins liking, but Red Alert ignored any and all comments about it, though whenever they reached through their brotherly bond, he seemed to be embarrassed.

It wasn't until Red Alert agreed to do something for Inferno that normally he wouldn't ever of agreed to do, that the twins realized what was going on.

So they cornered Inferno. "Hey, Inferno, we'll ask you again. What do you think about Red Alert?"

"Red? He's… well…" Inferno stammered, fighting off his blush. "Reds interesting."

_Not_ the answer they wanted. Optics narrowed, but Red Alert appeared at the moment, roaring, "TWISN! I swear, if I catch you you'll wish you had never been sparked!"

"Aww crud, do you think he's already found out about us turning the energon different colors?"

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

A second chapter to be done later where Inferno finds out about Red Alerts and the twins relationship.

By the way, somebody drew a pic of my cyber bats here: mugetsu22./art/Cyber-Bat-91149169

So, yes… Check it out if interested, and Oh! make sure to leave lots of comments on how you want Inferno to discover this bond because I have no idea on how I'm going to do it.

And I must thank shoji-san for inspiring to write about these three being brothers. I tweaked the idea so it'd fit in my stories of Red Alert being abandoned, though I think in the next chapter I'll explain more of why Red Alert was abandoned.


	2. Chapter 2

Oh my, sorry. I am so used to reading shoji-sans stories where it's younger brother, I put younger brother. Red Alert _is_ the older brother. Sorry for the confusion.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

"Tell us!" Sideswipe begged Red Alert. Red Alert glared back in response, grumbling to himself about younger brothers who refused to leave him alone. Sunstreaker pointed out, "We'd leave you alone if you'd tell us."

Red Alert slammed the energon cube down, nearly spilling its contents. "Twins, you've kept me up for the past _week_. Can't I get at least a little peace?"

"What do you mean week? We've only been doing it the past month." Sideswipe said, easily getting sidetracked. Or at least pretending too. Red Alert sighed, and pulled a datapad towards him when Sunstreaker snatched it right out of his hands.

"Sunstreaker-" Red Alert said warningly, optics narrowing.

Sunstreakers own optic ridge cocked. Red Alert would have to fight _hard_ in order to get the data pad, and Sunstreaker had an ally on his side. There was no way Red Alert was going to be able to defeat both of them to get the datapad. "Twins, please. I'm too tired-"

Without knowing it, his horns sparked slightly as his glitch began screaming something at him. He flinched, head coming down into his hands as his exhausted CPU attempted to think up counter-arguments to his glitch.

The twins dropped the subject, and Sideswipe easily picked up the glitching security director to hurry him off to the security room which would be empty. Sunstreaker was _supposed_ to be on duty, but had run off in the middle to get another stylus, and gotten a little side-tracked. Red Alert didn't know, thankfully.

The room was still empty when they got in, and they forgot to lock the door.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert sighed, optics staring off at nothing as the twins flanked him on either side. The soft hum of computers and the screens in front of him calmed and soothed his glitch, but nowhere near as well as Inferno-

Red Alert broke off that thought, huddling further into himself. A hand was placed on his back, and a worried voice asked, "Red Alert, what's going on with you? You aren't acting like normal."

Red Alerts optics offlined, a deep painful sigh dragging its way out of him. "Inferno."

"He hasn't done anything-" Sideswipe began, his voice dark and angry. Red Alert could hear the two beginning to tense and he hurried yelped, "NO! He helps me! My glitch!"

Confusion reigned supreme in their tones as they asked, "What do you mean Red Alert?"

Red Alert mumbled, "Every time I'm with him, my glitch calms down. It isn't as loud anymore, and I can ignore it easier."

Red Alert could feel through the brotherly bond they shared a wave of stunned surprise. He onlined his optics to see both of them staring at him oddly, and he looked away. "And what do you think about Inferno?"

"None of your business!" Red Alert said hastily. _Too late._

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were on him like a lodestone, and Red Alert knew with a sinking spark that unless he told them what was going on, Inferno would be sure to be on the receiving end of several nasty pranks. Pranks nasty enough to drive him away. That thought alone was enough to make Red Alerts spark grow cold.

"I… like him." He admitted in a small, terrified voice.

The twins caught onto the fear, and both drew nearer, optics concerned. "Then why don't you tell him?"

"I'm a glitch! I'm probably one day going to fry my own CPU and die! I shouldn't even be near him, I'm not-" Red Alert choked on his words, old, ugly memories rising of kids drawing away simply because he had a glitch.

Two pairs of strong arms wrapped around him. "you're fine Red."

"Ah twins." Red Alert whispered, snuggling into the embrace. "I don't deserve his friendship, and I can't ask for any more. I don't want to loose what I've got."

The twins looked at each other, and words that needed no speaking aloud passed between them. Red Alert shook his head as he caught their look. "I'm not going to tell him anything, and don't you two even _think_ of laying a finger on him, or your punishment is going to be a record harsh."

0o0o0o0o0o

"I wonder where Red is?" Inferno wondered aloud, looking around. "he's not in the Rec. room, nor is he in the cafeteria."

He wondered for a moment about going to the security room, when his stomach gurgled painfully, reminding him that for the past, grueling cycle he had had nothing to eat. _I'll just pick up a cube on the way to the security room._ Inferno thought, quickly moving towards the cafeteria.

Once there he grabbed a cube, and headed towards the security room. To is surprise, the door was slightly cracked open. Curious he peeked in, and nearly dropped the cube.

Red Alert sat inside, being _hugged_ by the twins when he could only seem to barely tolerate Infernos touches, and smiling slightly as they whispered something in his auditory receptor, optics offlined. The twins were grinning at each other, and Inferno felt as if his spark had dropped right out him as he backed away from the door.

_NOOOOOOOO!_ His CPU wailed silently, _Red can't be claimed by the twins!_ Infernos gaze looked at the energon cube he held in one trembling hand, and he fled to his room, attempting to sort out what he had seen. Some inner part of his spark demanded that he go back and fight the twins for Red Alert, but… he knew he wouldn't win.

The twins were well renown for their fighting skills, Inferno couldn't even begin to measure up. To fight them would be like fighting death. He could draw it out as long as possible, but he would loose in the end. His spark twisted at the memory of Red Alerts slight smile as he sat, wrapped within the twins embrace.

Hiw feet dragged as Inferno decided to do something he very rarely ever did when he liked someone. He would fade into the background and allow Red Alert his happiness with the twins.

0o0o0o0o0o

Red Alert masked a snort as the twins described childhood experiences, pranking their creators, and neighbors. They had let go of Red Alert by then, and Red Alert was happy enough to just sit still and listen. With them hiding their relationship to each other it made it hard for them to talk about anything serious. Finally, Sideswipe ran out of stories, and Sunstreaker asked, "Why did our creators abandon you?"

"Cost. I was already eating up most of their income, taking me to hospitals and such. When you two came along they could no longer support us. So…" Red Alert shrugged. "I was taken to an sparkling home and left there. I never thought they would come back, and they never did. But… I forgot about you two. I thought they had just abandoned me. My memory core wasn't developed enough to remember you two from way back then."

"Oh."

00o0o0o0o0o0o0

The next few cycles passed by extremely slow for both Red Alert and Inferno. Inferno kept true to his promise of avoiding Red Alert, and Red Alert noticed. And glitched. Badly.

"Ratchet, what caused him to go over the top this time?" Sideswipe asked, almost exasperated with his older brother for glitching on them.

Ratchet glared. "He's been overstressed, and overworked. His glitch has been off the wall in its power, and I'm surprised that his CPU isn't nothing more then a scrambled mass of fried wires."

Inferno, passing by, stopped. "What's going on?"

"Red Alert started glitching in the middle of a meeting." Ratchet snapped. "Inferno, go tell Prime that Red Alert is to have the next few days off."

"Can we go see him?" Sideswipe asked, and Inferno caught just the _slightest_ amount of worry inside of Sideswipes tone. That caused his spark to plummet another notch, and he went away with a heavy spark, not paying attention to what Ratchet would have to say.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"You glitched because Infernos been avoiding you?"

Red Alert made a slight motion, peering around the medbay as if it was full of decepticons. He still wasn't feeling very well after the quick operation, and it showed itself in his paranoia being cranked up by a notch. "Yes! I've only seen him twicein the past three cycles! A plot by the decepticons-"

"Whoa, calm down Red Alert! What's so strange about that?"

"He always comes at lunchtime to the security room! Always!" Red Alert paused, and sighed. "I guess he doesn't want to be friends." He mumbled, suddenly shutting off from the twins. The twins could feel his heavy depression across their bond however, and their optics narrowed.

"You get some recharge Red Alert." Sunstreaker advised as Sideswipe began scheming several ways to get Inferno alone. "You're going to need it."

As the exited the room, Sideswipe began muttering to Sunstreaker.

It was a rather extravagant plan, one that would call for all their years as pranksters and fighters in order to pull off. But, it was practically the only way to make sure that Inferno would be well and truly alone. They were going to get to the bottom of why Inferno was avoiding their brother if it cost them membership to the army.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Inferno watched as the twins strolled in, highly amused. Inferno glanced around, noticing that they were coming straight for him, and seeing no other mech. In fact, the Ark was nearly silent. "What did you two do?" Inferno blurted, before realizing how paranoid it sounded. _Red's rubbed off on me._

"Us? Well, I suppose an unconscious Prime and Ironhide being made up like femmes and dangled from the ceiling is sufficient to distract the rest of the Ark long enough for us to gather them into one part of the Ark and lock the doors on them. I think Ratchet and Wheeljack are the only ones free, but Ratchets with Red alert-"

Inferno winced inwardly, and the twins optics narrowed. "Why have you been avoiding Red Alert?"

"Huh? What do ya mean-" Inferno said weakly.

"We noticed that you used to spend a lot if not all of your free time with Red Alert, even when you knew he was a glitch. Now, you've vanished from Red Alerts presence."

Inferno couldn't take it. He was willing giving Red Alert (not that willingly since they could beat the spark out of him) but he glared back and snarled. "Why would you care? Aren't you three an item?"

The twins jaws dropped, Sideswipes flabbergasted beyond feeling, and Sunstreaker appalled. "Red Alert- us- NO!"

Sideswipe suddenly laughed, even as Sunstreaker finished with the vehement denial. "Us and Red Alert? I'd love to see his face when we tell him that."

"What do you mean?"

Sideswipe was about to tease Inferno, however Sunstreaker quickly intervened. "He's our brother."

Inferno looked at them, comparing the giant, strong, scary twins to the quiet, strong, and glitchy Red Alert. And found nothing that could make them brothers. "Are ya sure?" He asked doubtfully.

"As sure as a mech can get."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ratchet looked up to see Inferno peeking around the door. He grunted inwardly in approval. He had been wondering when Inferno would show up. "Ratchet, is Red Alert awake?"

"Yes, he is. Go ahead on in, but no physical contact."

Inferno nodded, and the grumpy medic saw the twins high-five each other in the background. "Now, if we can get the two to confess-" Sideswipe said, smirking.

Sunstreaker looked back at Sideswipe. "He still has to pass our test."

"True."

"Twins. I've been meaning to ask you two… Are you two and Red Alert related?"

"Yep! Our older brother!"

"Thought as much." Ratchet muttered. "He paying you back after all those years you tortured him when you all were younglings."

For the first time in Ratchets life he saw both twins quiet and look slightly grave. "No. Our creators left him in a sparkling home somewhere else. We didn't even gro up on the same planet."

Ratchets optic ridge rose. For brothers to find each other after that long, and in this day and age was rare. It was even rarer that they could form the brotherly bonds that usually were only forged during the sparkling and youngling years. "And how did Red Alert take it when he found out?"

"Eh, he was just as surprised as us."

Silence fell, and Inferno came out, sporting a broad grin. He nodded to the twins and floated down the hallway. Red Alert _did_ like him, and he was the brother to the twins. There was still a chance that he could win Red Alerts spark after all.

SsSsSsSsSsSssSsssSsSss

Ok, review people because my hand _hurts_ I've been stuffing envelopes all day. Ahh, my hand!

But, thanks to those who reviewed with ideas, especially Ashen Thorn. I rather liked what you sent me, and that was the longest review I've ever gotten.


End file.
